Bringing back the bellbirds

More than 200 people found it no problem to turn up at 8 am on a recent Sunday morning at the Hamilton Gardens. They poured into Te Parapara Garden to see the release of bellbirds into the Gardens. When the containers were opened, it was just a moment and a flash of olive and gold before they were out of sight.

We hope that they will stay at the Gardens - and more importantly - nest here so that when we visit they will delight us with their song.

It is some years ago that I visited Little Barrier Island in the Hauraki Gulf. This sanctuary could well be described as party central for bellbirds. There for the first time, listening to the dawn chorus, I realised how New Zealand used to be and what we have lost.

In the Waikato, we have very little of the indigenous cover remaining. We now treasure the meagre fragment of kahikatea at Jubilee Bush and marvel at the striking stand of kahikatea forest at Yarndley's Bush near Te Awamutu.

The bellbird release is possibly optimistic but also symbolic as a tangible reminder of all that we still need to do.

Stirring song and dance

Maori graduates of the university and Wintec may choose whether to receive their degrees at the Founders theatre or at a marae ceremony.

At the Founders, most graduates walk across the stage accompanied by polite clapping. In contrast, at a recent Wintec graduation ceremony at the Kirikiriroa Marae, graduates received heartwarming vocal support from the large gathering of friends and family taking obvious pride in their accomplishments.

At this moving - and leisurely - ceremony most graduates were acknowledged individually by stirring waiata or haka from friends and whanau. Younger members of their families at this event could well be inspired to consider tertiary study for themselves.

A Scottish woman who chose the marae graduation was warmly applauded as we listened to the plaintive notes of her supporting lone piper. Song and dance, as part of the rich fabric of the occasion, move us perhaps more than words may do.

Not on yer Yike!

When I had enthusiastic emails from friends in Italy and the US recently about the New Zealand -designed Yike bike, I needed to check it out. The Yike bike has been heralded as the answer to urban commuter travel. It is a lightweight electric bike which can fold up to go on a bus or train and be stowed under a desk at work. But it is limited to a range of only 10-12 kms. And with an eye-watering price tag of three thousand English pounds it is only for the seriously wealthy.

A standard electric bike, though, is a great way to get around as it flattens the hills and deals to headwinds. So I will happily continue to commute on my trusty electric bike and especially enjoy sailing past queued cars at peak times.

Hooked on hockey!

As someone who usually skips over the sports section of the paper, last week's international women's hockey test in Hamilton was a revelation for me.

Our Blacksticks and Argentina's Las Leonas ran like gazelles for the whole 70 minutes of the game. Both teams were remarkably fit, agile and deft and their dazzling display had me rapt. I had not appreciated how demanding and skilled hockey at this level is and what a great, fast-moving game it is to watch.

At the final whistle I was dancing with delight. We had won 3-1!

Saving Radio New Zealand

Why did more than sixty people brave the rain to gather in Garden Place at lunchtime last Thursday?

They came to oppose the funding cuts to Radio New Zealand, our public service broadcaster.

They poke eloquently and with passion about why they value the national and concert programmes as part of their lives, every day. They reminded us of the importance of informed debate and a trusted news source in a democracy.

As one young woman said, "I want decent radio - it's my lifeline to the world."

The Minister of Broadcasting has told the RNZ Board that there will be no increase in funding in the foreseeable future. He has advised them to cut staff, look at sponsorship of programmes and consider shutting down from midnight to 6am.

This "death by inches" approach will erode the quality of the service, especially newsgathering.

The Hamilton protest, the latest in a series nation-wide, along with the 19,000 people joined to the Save Radio New Zealand Facebook page, indicates substantial oopposition to the cuts right across the political spectrum.

The government may not appreciate Radio New Zealand. I do.

Natural Burial

If your choice of cremation or traditional burial is because of religous or cultural considerations, read no further.

However, if you could choose either option you may be interested in a further possibility, that of natural burial.

What is the difference? With traditional burial as at Newstead, graves are set in expansive lawns which are mowed and maintained. Monuments and plaques mark individual graves. In contrast, the area for natural burials will become over time an area of re-generating native bush where the individual graves will be indistinguishable and unmarked.

Those would would prefer natural burial consider it to be more environmentally friendly than either traditional burial or cremation. They consider it sufficient memorial to have contributed to a pleasant area of restored bush.

Fractur

Fractur is not for the faint-hearted. You might not want to take your granny to this play (nudity and language may offend) but you will keep thinking about its message long after you have left the theatre.

At one point in the play, we were asked to intervene to stop the violence on stage but we did not do so. I am still wrestling with my conscience over that.

Fractur is about guards and prisoners and the way they treat each other but with some uncertainties as to whether it is meant to be "real"or not. David Foote's take on man's inhumanity to man is chilling, troubling and intensely involving. He is well-served by his cast who will take his creation to a season in Wellington.